Laying back, listening to Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians
December 31, 2019 Night
Good evening on this final blog post of 2019 ! Cloudy and 31 degrees at the Cole Hill State Forest in Berne on this New Years Eve. 
We had a thunderstorm with some brief lightning and snow. 
It was windy and intense for about five minutes and then it got quiet. There is a west-southwest breeze at 9 mph. 
. There is about 4 inches of snow on the ground. 
The skies will clear tomorrow around noontime.
It’s hard to believe that New Years Day is only a few hours away and it will be 2020. 
To think it’s already the twenties when not all that long ago it was year 2000 and I was back in High School. I’ll be waking tomorrow to a brand new decade. Although it’s already basically 11 o’clock now and I could if I wanted to stay up the next hour listening to a podcast until midnight. I was outside by the fire until 10:30 when a snow squall and the breeze made me decide to jettison the cold outside for a nice warm tent 
. Maybe I will stay up to midnight 
, I’m in no rush to take down camp as things with the dropping temperatures are likely to be frozen early in the day until the sun comes out. Simple breakfast of instant oatmeal 
and coffee 
for breakfast tomorrow and then it’s just a 20 minute drive home.
Tonight will have a chance of snow showers, mainly before 10pm. Mostly cloudy 
, with a low of 25 degrees at 6am. Nine degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 7th. Even warmer back in the city. West wind 9 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. A few good gusts earlier for sure with that winter thunderstorm. The wind is a bit concerning with the ice on the trees being thrown or broken limbs but my campsite is relatively free of widow makers. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Total nighttime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2018, we had light rain in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 27 degrees. I was up at Cherry Ridge last year and I left the night before because I was worried 
about the road being slippery when the ice turned to mud. In retrospect, should have done Moscow Hill horse 
camp instead. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1970.
Tonight will have a Waxing Crescent 
Moon with 31% illuminated. At dusk you’ll see the moon in the south (190°) at an altitude of 37° from the horizon, some 251,948 miles away from where you are looking up from the earth. 
It was kind of a pretty moon tonight and it seems like my astrological calculations are right. The moon will set in the west-southwest (257°) at 10:06 pm. The darkest hour is at 12:00 am (the beginning of the decade), followed by dawn at 6:55 am, and sun starting to rise at 7:27 am in the east-southeast (121°) and last for 3 minutes and 25 seconds. Sunrise is 9 seconds later than yesterday. 
The golden hour ends at 8:13 am with sun in the southeast (129°) at an altitude of 6°. Tonight will have 14 hours and 53 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 42 seconds over last night.
New Year’s Day will have isolated snow showers after 8am. Partly sunny 
, with a high of 34 degrees at 1pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 22nd. West wind 15 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became light drizzle by afternoon. The high last year was 53 degrees. The record high of 57 was set in 1966. 9.2 inches of snow fell back in 1961.
This year my New Year Resolution is to stay the course 
and continue to build a better life for myself. I want to keep saving money towards buying land and an off grid cabin. I might stay in New York for another decade but when the time comes, I want to be prepared. I’ll have to see if Big Red needs repairs and decide on my future of motoring 
or if I should try a life with more biking and local adventures. Sure these winter camping adventures are kind of fun but motoring is so expensive and bad for both the environment and ones health. I probably also drink and eat too much unhealthy food while camping although this time 
I intentionally limited my drinking by packing less beer 
being that I’m out in the real wilderness in the cold. That and I drunk most of it earlier in the week. 
That said, this coming year I plan to spend many nights in the woods and maybe even so a bit more wilderness camping.
In four weeks on January 28 the sun will be setting in the west-southwest (246°) at 5:04 pm, which is 31 minutes and 28 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had sunny weather and but rather cold temperatures between 22 and 8 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 31 and 15 degrees. The record high of 56 degrees was set back in 1916.
Looking ahead, Coldest Week of the Year 
is in 2 weeks, Martin Luther King Day 
is in 3 weeks, Don’t Cry over Spilled Milk Day 
is in 6 weeks, National Drink Wine Day 
is in 7 weeks, St. Patrick’s Day 
is in 11 weeks, 7:30 PM Sunset 
is in 14 weeks, Cinco de Mayo 
is in 18 weeks, Primary Day 
is in 25 weeks, Election Day 2020 is in 44 weeks and Election Day 2020 is in 44 weeks.
How Crisco toppled lard – and made Americans believers in industrial food
Instead of dwelling on its problematic sole ingredient, then, Crisco’s marketers kept consumer focus trained on brand reliability and the purity of modern factory food processing.
Crisco flew off the shelves. Unlike lard, Crisco had a neutral taste. Unlike butter, Crisco could last for years on the shelf. Unlike olive oil, it had a high smoking temperature for frying. At the same time, since Crisco was the only solid shortening made entirely from plants, it was prized by Jewish consumers who followed dietary restrictions forbidding the mixing of meat and dairy in a single meal.
In just five years, Americans were annually buying more than 60 million cans of Crisco, the equivalent of three cans for every family in the country. Within a generation, lard went from being a major part of American diets to an old-fashioned ingredient.
America Is Still Living in the 2000s – The Atlantic
Of the many things worth arguing about in America, the number of years that constitute a decade is probably not among them. The word quite literally means “10 years.” But consider historical time, often referred to in decade-based shorthand, and all of a sudden the clear concept of a decade gets blurrier.
Most decades in America have a corresponding social and cultural narrative that’s an uneasy fit in the actual calendar. The ’50s are often stereotyped as an era of postwar domestic prosperity, but the trends cited as proof, such as the growth of the suburbs, reach well into the ’60s. That decade, in turn, cannot tidily hold the massive shifts attributed to it. In her book San Francisco and the Long 60s, Sarah Hill makes the case for two definitions of the era—one spanning four years of counterculture and political upheaval ending in 1969, and another that persists to this day in American attitudes toward sex, drugs, and art. The ’80s, too, spilled over their borders, arguably terminating both politically and culturally circa the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the release of Nirvana’s Nevermind in late 1991.
Why You Should Have (at Least) Two Careers
It’s not uncommon to meet a lawyer who’d like to work in renewable energy, or an app developer who’d like to write a novel, or an editor who fantasizes about becoming a landscape designer. Maybe you also dream about switching to a career that’s drastically different from your current job. But in my experience, it’s rare for such people to actually make the leap. The costs of switching seem too high, and the possibility of success seems too remote.
But the answer isn’t to plug away in your current job, unfulfilled and slowly burning out. I think the answer is to do both. Two careers are better than one. And by committing to two careers, you will produce benefits for both.
Here’s Why Your Body Stores More Fat in Certain Places
We’re a little obsessed with moving fat around. And no, we’re not talking about stealing bags of liposuction leftovers to make soap.
As a society, we seem perpetually unhappy with wherever our body chooses to store its lipids. Pop music keeps telling us we should exercise enough to get "little in the middle" while maintaining, as they say, "much back." Countless workouts promise to target only “problem areas.” And then there are the more drastic means of fat reallocation: The Kardashians move it from their stomachs to their butts, while others take it from their thighs and stick it in their breasts. They turn to these surgeries because nature is just too good at stashing away our excess energy in the form of flab.
December 31, 2019 Afternoon
Good afternoon! Cloudy and 37 degrees in Delmar, NY. Calm wind.There is a dusting of snow on the ground. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 10 pm.
I am at the library for a little while uploading the pictures and content I put together, and still chewing over whether or not to spend the night in the wilderness.
If I do decide to camp out on New Years Eve, it will be minimal tent camping in the back country, not too far from home, hauling gear back and hot tenting it. But right now it’s so dreary, so I’m hardly in a rush to get outside.
I’ll head home in a while and then decide on my plans. I’m not planning on going too far and it’s just one night out so not a lot of stuff. It certainty would be fun to get away one last time this year and wake up to a new decade. It will 2020 come tomorrow morning even we did have some bad weather over the past few days canceling our my Finger Lakes trip.
This afternoon will have a slight chance of rain and snow showers before 1pm, then a chance of rain showers. Mostly cloudy , with a high of 38 degrees at 1pm. Six degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 10th. Southwest wind 3 to 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. That’s one concern about taking a trip today. Yesterday when I wanted to go down to the library we had an ice storm – I wouldn’t want to have that happen while I’m out on the road. Although I’m not going that far. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became light drizzle by afternoon. The high last year was 41 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 1895. 7.9 inches of snow fell back in 2007.
Solar noon 
was at 11:59 am with sun having an altitude of 24.3° from the due south horizon (-46.5° vs. 6/21). Yes, the sun is pretty weak this time of year compared to summer. The golden hour 
starts at 3:46 pm with the sun in the southwest (231°). Hopefully it will be a very nice afternoon. But now it’s so damp and dreary. Photographers like the golden hour — which occurs twice a day when the land looks particularly red on a nice day due to atmosphere — because it’s a great time for photography. 
The sunset is in the west-southwest (239°) starting at 4:28 pm and lasts for 3 minutes and 24 seconds with dusk around 5:03 pm, which is 49 seconds later than yesterday. The best time to look at the stars is after 5:39 pm. At sunset, look for rain or snow showers and temperatures around 38 degrees. There will be a southwest breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 6 minutes of daytime, an increase of 40 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will have a chance of snow showers, mainly before 1am. Mostly cloudy , with a low of 28 degrees at 6am. 12 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 29th. West wind 5 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2018, we had light rain in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 27 degrees. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1970.
Not a particularly nice weekend on tap. :( Saturday, showers likely, mainly after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 47. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Sunday, a chance of rain and snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 35. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Typical average high for the weekend is 31 degrees.
I’m not planning on going anywhere this weekend, 
because I have a Save the Pine Bush meeting on Sunday and I’ll probably go out for a hike at the Pine Bush before. Plus I have to save money 
so I can have money for camping come the summer when the nights are long and I can lay back in the hammock. 
Only 79 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!
